Yahoo! is in turmoil, with investors angry at the recent poor performance of the former Internet juggernaut and employees ready to jump ship the moment the right offer comes along. The world’s free speech advocates are no fans of Yahoo! either, charging the company with caving to China’s totalitarian regime by helping the government finger “dissidents” who write about topics the government deems seditious.
Speaking today at a sometimes contentious stockholders meeting, Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang once again defended the company’s practices of complying with China’s censorship laws, saying that Yahoo!’s relationship with Chinese law enforcement “is more complex than is generally understood” and “rarely” does Yahoo! even know the names or occupations of the members it turns over to authorities.
At least one Chinese citizen has been jailed and tortured because Yahoo! was complicit in identifying the man as a source of pro-democracy articles. Yahoo! does not condone this kind of punishment, Yang said, and called for the release of prisoners who have been locked away for their political writings on the Internet.
“We remain deeply concerned about governments that imprison their own citizens…for expressing their political views…particularly online,” he said. “We call for the release of these prisoners.”
But as he always does, Yang stopped short of saying Yahoo! would stop complying with laws that require Internet companies to filter content or turn over damaging user information, saying, in essence, that Yahoo! can transform countries for the better even if the price to pay is censorship. “Information is a powerful tool for change” and Yahoo! is delivering information to the Chinese people, even if in proscribed ways.
Yahoo! is trying to make sure that China’s Internet users understand that the information they receive is filtered by authorities first. “We strive to obtain maximum transparency to the user,” he said.
Moreover, Yang also said (as he always does) that governments and not corporations should work out these matters. “Private industry alone can’t affect foreign governments…agencies such as the state deparment [and other agencies] have the most leverage in this area.”
Cynthia Brumfield at 4:11 PM|Comments(0)
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